Drabu likely to quit PDP, Ashraf Mir to get cabinet berth

Srinagar, Mar 12 (KNB): Following the dramatic development in state politics after Haseeb Drabu, was Monday sacked from his post as finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir over a controversial comment that Kashmir is “not a political issue”, internal sources in ruling Party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) told newsgathering agency Kashmir News Bureau (KNB) that Drabu is all set to quit from the basic membership of party.
A senior leader of the party pleading anonymity told KNB that “after facing the humiliation he (Drabu) has decided to quit the party as a mark of protest against the extreme decision of his sacking by Chief Minister and Party President Mehbooba Mufti.”
Meanwhile sources said that MLA Sonawar constituency Mohammad Ashraf Mir and other new faces are likely to get the cabinet berth following the vacuum created after Drabu’s exit. The sources said deliberations were held in party circles over the portfolio of finance minister where senior PDP leader and Parliament member Muzzafar Beigh’s name was put on forth.



Pertinently, Drabu addressing diplomats and investors at the function hosted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce in New Delhi had termed Kashmir issue ‘apolitical’ which incensed his party PDP and also left it facing attacks from both mainstream parties and Hurriat camp as well.
Drabu formally joined the PDP in 2014 and successfully contested the state elections on the party ticket from his home constituency Rajpora.